


It's Just a Giant Spider

by Eonsethyr



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Arachnophobia, F/M, Farkas is amazing, Fluff, Giant Spiders, Scary spider, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 20:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3461237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eonsethyr/pseuds/Eonsethyr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Farkas and Erinya, a nord Dragonborn, go on a hunt for Dragons. Unfortunately for them, they end up stuck in a snowstorm and find shelter in a cave filled with draugr and... a giant spider.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Just a Giant Spider

The weather was much harsher than usual, especially in the Rift, where the sun usually shines at most days. Today, however, it was snowing, the cold wind blowing the small snowflakes in all kinds of places.

Erinya tightened her cloak around her shoulders, trying to keep herself warm. It wasn't really helpful since the icy snowflakes still latched onto her pale skin and melted on her cheeks, making her face wet. With a groan, she wiped her face for the tenth time that day only for it to be covered again.

Beside her, Farkas was dealing with the same thing, cursing when the freezing wind hit them both. „We must be moving closer to Eastmarch if a snowstorm started!“ Erinya shouted over the roaring air, „It's never this cold in the Rift!“

Her lover turned his head towards her and nodded. „We need to find a shelter!“ he said, pulling his leg up from the snow with growing difficulty.

They were both getting more tired, whilst the snowstorm kept it's pace, if not getting even worse. Erinya quickly scouted the area, her eyes carefully analyzing every hill and plain, but saw no place that could be used for a shelter. Everywhere was just land covered in thick layers of white. She was probably right – they really weren't in the Rift, but reaching Windhelm. That wasn't a bad thing, since their quest was closer now, but the weather seemed just as lethal.

„What shelter?“ she stopped and yelled back. „There's nothing!“

„There has to be something... someplace? I don't want to die before we kill that damn dragon you were talking about in Jorrvaskr!“

„Well, we can always rest dead under the snow!“

Her joking tone was unmistakable, but Farkas let out an exhausted sigh and sat on the snow. The cold welcomed him, not entirely comfortable, but relaxing after hours and hours of walking.

„No, don't do that!“, she stormed towards him with a horified expression, but laughed when when he looked up with the best puppy face he could muster. „Alright, I get it. I'm tired, too.“ She took him by the hand. „But get up. I need someone to watch my arse later.“ She said, still smiling.

Farkas chuckled gently, pulling himself from the snow, but regretted the whole action immediately afterwards. A grimace crept to his face when he noticed all the cloth and furs covering his behind were cold and wet. It was and uncomfortable feeling, and the violent wind blowing right at it made things much worse.

Two dark eyebrows meshed together on Erinya's forehead when she noticed Farkas' pained look. „What happened?“

He turned around, facing away from her. The female nord took her time trying to find an answer, intensely eying his broad shoulders, arms, back, lowe - „Oh.“ The damp area on his lower back was unmistakable, in other – preferably warmer – circumstances she would gladly suggest he take off his trousers... and everything under, but, to her bad fortune, this was not the time.

Erinya sighed at the thought. „Well, you'll need that dried up. So what now?“

„Maybe we should transform?“

The idea played for a while in their heads, but they decided it was better not to. Yes, the boiling beast blood would keep them warm until they reach the city, but what then? What if they lose control, or some of the guards see them? Erinya slowly walked towards a hill a few meters away, her feet feeling heavy against all the snow.

„No, we would lose all our equipment, and who knows where we would end up.“ She said calmly, wiping her forehead and pushing away the stray black hairs behind her ear.

„And you probably wouldn't know how to control yourself.“ Farkass added, a mischievous smirk obvious on his lips. Erinya playfully pouted towards him, and leaned against the white hill consumed by the unrelenting snow. She relished the short rest and wished she was in her home, preferably with Farkas naked and a burning fireplace in front of them, keeping them both comfortably warm.

She looked towards the sky, and pressed the back of her head against the hill. And then the whole world seemed to shatter. The support behind her suddenly crashed and crumbled, initiating a sharp gasp from Erinya. The sky disappeared, replaced by darkness as she collapsed on the stone floor, her head hit hard onto the ground.

In one moment, she saw a pair of glowing blue eyes look into her as the draugr swung its greatsword at her laying body on the ground.She didn't have enough time to recompose herself, but just in another second, Farkas pushed his own weapon into the creature's stomach, causing it to stumble backwards and release its sword. The weapon fell on the stone with a loud clang, loud enough to make Erinya curse and grumpily pull herself up.

„You alright?“ Farkas asked, pulling her by the arm.

Once she got up, she dusted off her arms and legs. „Yes, I am.“ she replied, but then winced as the back of her head started pulsating with a sharp pain, spreading to her temples. „Well, except my head.“

He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by more draugr rushing towards them. Erinya reached for her bow, but realizing it wouldn't do much good in a cave, she pulled out twin swords and viciously lashed out. Farkas had his way with the first undead, and now it was her turn. However, combat involving them both was based on partnership, so they always covered each other.

Ignoring her headache, Erinya raised her weapon, skillfully parried the draugr sword that went to her throat a moment ago, and released an attack of her own immediately after. She stabbed the draugr in its chest, but noticed it still had the weapon and swung it right into Farkas' direction, who was busy dealing with another undead. She shouted towards him, and in an instant, as if he already knew, he turned around and slashed the draugr's head off. Erinya pulled out her blade as the creature slumped to the ground, now headless.

One short breath full of awe for her lover escaped her mouth, yet she didn't have enough time to comment on anything since another draugr already came to her. This one carried a simple, small sword, but was defended under the heavy armor it was wearing. Erinya swore she saw something colder in the eyes of that draugr. She wondered if there was anything different. The undead approached her slowly, with long, heavy steps, as if he was trying tell her she better beware. The closer he got, the more furious Erinya became.

And then it shouted. „ Liz Slen Nus!“

The air suddenly became thick, cold. Ice nestled on her skin, freezing her hair. Erinya froze for a moment, chills moving up and down her spine.

_I'm not afraid of you, Dragonborn._

_Fair enough._

„Fus Ro Dah!“And up they went. The other two behind him did the same, one's head violently turned backwards with a cracking sound.

Erinya sighed with relief, touching her hair. Beside her, Farkas turned around and closely eyes her. He considered asking her if she was fine, but looking at her confirmed she was a complete mess. All the cloth stuck to her skin beneath the leather armor, which was covered in snow, and her head – and oh he just burst out laughing.

„What?“ Erinya let out roughly, trying not to focus on her now-sore throat.

Her hair was pulled up in spikes – like icicles – and were standing upright from her head. „Nothing.“

„Mm-hmm.“ Exhausted, she only wanted to rest, but she knew she would have to wait for that.

„We should go further in, find what's inside, and then light a fire. You really need to do something with your hair.“ He chuckled.

„And you need to dry that wet ass of yours.“

He laughed even more, as she extended her hand, raising her palm and swiftly pulling it down to smack him on his rear – only for it to land on his metal armor. She cursed lightly between her laughs and turned away from him, raising a single finger at him. „Don't you smirk at me, Farkas - you're not off the hook.“

He shook his head with a smile and followed her into the tunnel she was heading into. It was narrow, so only one could walk through. Erinya walked in front of Farkas, carefully placing her feet onto the ground as not to step on some mushrooms that strangely grew in here. Farkas, on other hand, stepped on everything he could, causing the fragile plants to crack underneath him. She couldn't blame him – the man has large feet. And one knows what having large feet and hands meant...

The tunnel got even more narrow, the stone walls seemingly coming together. Erinya panicked for a short moment, wondering if she could get stuck. Thankfully, she was relieved when the tunnel stopped, leading to a large room. She stood there, at the opening, scouting the area in front of her. The other nord behind waited, with little choice in the matter since he was trapped by the figure of his lover.

„Erinya?“ he asked, but his voice came out much louder than he meant for it to be. To make things even worse, the stone walls reproduced the sound over and over.

At the echo of her name, another sound was soon released. At first she didn't know what was it, but soon she heard it again. Clicking.

And that's when she saw it. Eight legs, six eyes, enormous.

„What?“ Farkas asked, more softly this time.

„Uhh, shit.“ And _it_ has headed towards her.

„Farkas, I want you to be really calm now, alright?“

His curiosity got the best of him, and he slightly pushed Erinya aside to get a better look. She tried to stop him, but couldn't. The damage was already done, and she lashed out with her blades ready.

His instinct was to run away, but instead he just stood there, behind her, frozen. He watched the creature approach, but his limbs only trembled. _It could poison us, squeeze us in its web, tear our skin and crawl over our corpses with these long, thin legs. Trap us, leave us helplessly squirming, and then eat us alive –_

He was lost in his mind and he knew it made him weak. He barely noticed Erinya's weapon flying into the spider's head, killing it. The though of her getting hurt made his heart tighten. But the creature was already dead – so easily.

Erinya pushed the spider's dead body into a hole nearby, her boot glistening with the disgusting spider goo „It's alright now. There was only one spider, and this is the end of the cave.“ She lowered her pack and set it softly onto the ground. „I suggest resting here. We need to dry off, and the weather will hopefully be better later.“

He still stood there, his gaze locked on his feet, unsure what to say. She sighed and lit a fire in the middle of the room using some dry branches from her bags. „Farkas.“ she said once she was done. „It's fine. You handled it well, I'm proud of you.“

He scoffed, but slowly came and sat beside her. „What's there to be proud of?“

„Oh come on now. Don't be like that. You just sliced a draugr in half, you fought a whole group of the Silver Hand protecting me, and you kill dragons alongside me. Also – you carry that greatsword as it it's a feather while most can't even lift the thing.“ She smiled, looking at his grey eyes. „That's worth being proud of. You're allowed to be afraid of spiders.“

Blushing slightly at her comments, he took off the metal plates he wore and sat them down.

„And you're adorable.“ Giggling, she, too, took her leathers off,and then her wet shirt. She faintly felt his gaze over her skin, as if it was caressing her. If they weren't as close, she would've been uncomfortable, but they saw each other in all kinds of situations far too many times to stay shy about their bodies. She pulled a dry tunic out and put in on herself, immediately feeling warmer.

„Thank you.“ He said, smiling at her. „Though I really think I should somehow overcome this.“

She shook her head mischievously. „Would that smack I owe you clear your mind a bit.“ At that, he grinned and hugged her tightly. Tiny water droplets kept falling onto their skin from her hair, but it didn't matter. Suddenly nothing mattered, just them and that warm bear hug.

* * *

 

Erinya awoke in the middle of the night. Or was it morning? It was impossible to tell. She looked beside her, Farkas had stopped snoring and was now, too, awake.

„Erinya, why are you holding my head?“ he asked, his voice deep and groggy from the sleep.

„I'm not – “ Oh.

On the second glance towards him she saw an eight-legged thing the size of her whole fist, and it was nestled in his dark hair. He opened his mouth to speak, but she quickly silenced him.

„Shhh. It's just a –“


End file.
